Inspectors for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that for five months in 2004, half the plant’s 364-member emergency response team had not taken an annual refresher course as required.

Technically, they were ineligible to respond to an emergency involving a release of radiation at the plant for those five months.

But realistically, says NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan, “They would have, and they certainly would have been able to handle any emergency that would have arisen. Nevertheless, this is one of the annual requirements.”

The recent training violation comes after two of eight control room crews at TMI flunked requalification exams in 2004 during a hypothetical emergency in a simulated control room.

Two of five control room supervisors failed a portion of the simulated tests and a third had to be retrained because of a weak performance on the test.

In addition, the simulator used at TMI to test operators did not accurately replicate some current plant conditions, and it was determined that tests were not varied, as required, so that inspectors conceivably could have told their colleagues what to expect, the NRC found.

In all, four violations were issued.

All those who failed the tests were subsequently retrained and certified.

In the latest accident-training development, the NRC has notified TMI operator AmerGen Energy that the violation is of low to moderate safety significance and that TMI will now come under increased oversight by the federal agency.

AmerGen notified the NRC last Friday that it would not contest the violation. The utility has addressed the problem, Sheehan said.

Sheehan said there is no indication AmerGen willfully ignored the requirement. “It appears to be confusion having to do with their procedures,” he said.

AmerGen spokesman Ralph DeSantis concurred. AmerGen internal plans had two different requirements, he said. One said retraining had to be done every calendar year. The other that it had to be done every 12 months, plus or minus up to three months.

Once the NRC’s intent was made clear, the emergency response people were immediately retrained.

DeSantis noted that the retraining often involves a mere one-hour training session. All the workers had passed training exercises throughout the year, he added.

“We feel very comfortable everyone was very qualified to do their job. It was more of an administrative issue than anything else.”

Emergency responders at TMI would perform a wide range of roles during an emergency, from working with the media and public to addressing the problem at the plant.

Eric Epstein of Three Mile Island Alert, a safe-energy group, says the incident is just the latest in a disturbing pattern at TMI.

“Staffing cuts, forced overtime and an aging work force has undermined training and eroded safety margins at Three Mile Island,” Epstein said.

“For an industry based on safety and depth, poor training and inadequate staffing are cause for alarm.”